


Valentine on Fire

by littlepinkbow



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Boys Being Boys, Crushes, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-13 00:30:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3361130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlepinkbow/pseuds/littlepinkbow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis is sure that the way to Harry's heart is by eating 30 cinnamon hearts.  Or at least, he's sure that he can get Niall to eat 30 cinnamon hearts if he tells him that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Valentine on Fire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mozartspiano](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mozartspiano/gifts).



The week leading up to Valentine’s Day, there was a table set up in the cafeteria, saying to send your crush a secret Valentine. Only, when you got to the table, paid the small fee - you were able to choose between cinnamon hearts, a flower, or conversation hearts. It was a brilliantly executed plan by one of the extracurricular groups and the majority of the week there was a line at the table.  Louis had waited in the line for half of the space of his lunch time for one thing. Scrawling quickly on the paper he grinned as he handed it over and really, his work there was done.  Now he just had to wait until Valentine’s Day.

It was Friday.  Valentine’s Day.  Harry’s favourite holiday and as he settled into his chair in his maths class, he had a random assortment of candies, a few marked from secret admirer but more often, they were from one of his friends. If he had had a meltdown over being worried he wouldn’t get a secret Valentine that was a story for a complete different day.  Stretching his legs out in front of him, Harry crossed his feet at the ankles and watched as Niall and Louis entered the room. There was something about their friendship that he admired, Louis always seemed to be up to trouble and Niall seemed to be more than capable of dealing with it and it didn’t help that neither of them were hard to look at. If Harry had a daydream of Niall, his Ken doll, rescuing him from the boring depths of maths and running off and kissing him, that was his business and his business alone. It was something about the wide blue eyes or maybe it was his smile or it could have been his laugh or it could have been the way his hair was always a perfectly styled mess. Or maybe it was the way that he was completely gone over Niall (another fact that really, no one needs to know.)

Niall dug through his bag and pulled out the secret Valentine he had received in his first class, glaring at Louis. “Seriously?” He said, looking down at the heart attached to it and reading the note again… ‘I dare you to eat all of these in maths. Curly will be so into it.’ Niall glared at the note, then at Louis and then took just half a moment to steal a glance over his shoulder at Harry.  

“Seriously. It’s a dare. So you have to do it,” Louis emphasized and his grin was bigger than his face could contain. “He’ll be so fond over you. Plus he’ll also be jealous that he didn’t get you a secret Valentine.” His voice was a mix of mischievous and encouraging even if he knew Niall would take the bait regardless.

“Actually, I think that maybe,” Niall started before twisting his brows together and shaking his head, deciding not to tell Louis about the anonymous secret Valentine that he got that had nothing more than a math joke on it.  He was about eighty-five percent sure that one was from Harry but he wasn’t going to ask, so it looked like he would be chowing down on cinnamon hearts.

Harry raised his eyebrow, watching Niall and Louis’ interaction, his focus on the two rather than anything else and seeing the Valentine that clearly must have been from someone Niall liked or maybe didn’t like, but it definitely wasn’t the one from Harry made Harry scoot down in his chair a little more and cross his arms over his chest.

Just as their teacher started the lesson, Niall started on his cinnamon hearts.  It wasn’t so bad at first, just a little spicy, but he found that if he bit down on them twice and then swallowed he wouldn’t choke and they weren’t as strong as they could have been.  

Louis had a tally running in the top of his notebook and he really had been sure Niall wouldn’t get past ten, but now that he had just made a hash mark for seventeen, he looked over at Niall with his jaw slightly dropped. “You’re gonna regret this,” He said, shaking his head and turning at least half of his attention back in the direction of the teacher.

“I am fine,” Niall muttered back, tossing three in his mouth at once.  He attempted swallowing them whole, like you would a pill, but ended up coughing and that definitely wouldn’t work. He was going to do this because Harry was watching him and how could he disappoint Harry. The thought that maybe Harry wouldn’t be impressed by Niall’s eating of the cinnamon hearts hadn’t even crossed his mind.

Harry’s eyebrow raised as he watched NIall and of course, he knew some people liked spicy or hot candy, but NIall was eating these hearts like they were M&M’s and Harry was wondering when he was going to regret it.

Louis really hadn’t expected Niall to do this so seriously, although he should have, because it was a bet and Niall never stood down to a bet, but that was neither here nor there at the moment. At the moment, he was watching Niall out of the corner of his eye, the contents of the bag nearly entirely gone and he really was going to each every one of the thirty cinnamon hearts. Regrets would come later, he assumed.

“Ha! I did it!” Niall whispered to Louis, closing the zipper baggy the cinnamon hearts had been in and if it was if all at once, the candies all activated in his mouth and throat.  Niall’s eyes watered as he coughed, reaching his right hand to scrub over his mouth as if that would help the insistent burn. “What the heck, Lou-” Niall gasped softly, looking over at his friend and really? What kind of love candy was this?

Louis couldn’t help but laugh.  Actually, he tried to do it quietly but that might have made it even louder. “What is going on over there boys?” Their teacher, Mrs. Mason asked.

Niall pointed to his mouth, his cheeks flushed, maybe from embarrassment or maybe from the fact that his entire mouth and throat was actually on fire. “Candy,” He choked out and the last thing he wanted to do was look over his shoulder and see how “impressed” Harry was by this stupid idea.

“He ate thirty cinnamon hearts,” Louis announced proudly, emphasis on the thirty like it was a challenge to be taken by anyone else in the room. “His head’s probably gonna blow now.” Louis added informationally, as if that were his proper scientific explanation.

Niall glared at Louis at his words and god, Louis. Of course. Of course he would make him make a fool of himself in front of Harry, he thought, sinking down in his chair to disappear.

“Niall, why don’t you go down to the nurse and see if there’s anything she’s got that could help with the um, effects.” Mrs. Mason said and her annoyance was nearly mute, because of course teenage boys will be teenage boys. “Do you want Louis to go with you?”

Harry nearly launched himself from his chair, hitting his knee off of his desk with a loud crack as he stood up. “Ow. I can go with him. Because apparently I’ve got a reason to be there now,” Harry said, a pout taking over his features as he looked pleadingly at the teacher.

Niall shot an almost incredulous look at Louis, because had this really worked? Harry really had offered to go to the nurses office with him. “I don’t trust Louis. But Harry could come.” Niall said slowly to his teacher, pushing himself up from his chair to head towards the door of the room.

“Told you it would work!” Louis grinned, twisting his pencil between his fingers and watching Harry as he made his way through the room.

Harry packed up his own things and threw his bag over his shoulder before stopping at Niall’s desk and doing the same thing.  He wasn’t sure how long they’d be in the nurses office, but he really didn’t want to go back to maths after school just to gather up his satchel.

When Harry got to the door, he shot a thankful smile in Mrs. Mason’s direction, who was handing Harry a hall pass, and then he followed Niall out of the room. “Are you okay?” He said softly, once the door was shut and it was just the two of them in the hallway.

Niall shook his head no, swallowing and wincing slightly as he did, the burn of cinnamon coating his throat and why was he so stupid. “Maybe she’s got milk.” Niall spoke, his voice scratchy as the pair made their way down the hallway to the nurses office.

When they arrived to the nurses office, Harry bit his lip before looking at her, “Niall ate too many cinnamon hearts and his mouth is on fire. Mrs. Mason sent us here to see if you had anything that could help make him feel better.” He explained, watching as NIall sat down on what would be an examination table in a doctor’s office and rubbed softly at his throat.

“Time maybe,” The nurse replied, looking at Niall for a moment before getting up from her chair, “I’ll see if I can get someone in the cafeteria to give me a bit of milk. That will usually help with neutralizing the burn of spicy food like that. Was there a reason you decided to eat thirty cinnamon hearts in your maths class?”

“Louis bet me too. Said it would impress the person I like.” Niall said proudly and if he stole a glance at Harry just then it was just on coincidence.

“Did it work?” The nurse asked with a raised eyebrow, heading for the door to go down to the cafeteria.

“The verdict is still out.” Niall said, still proudly, because actually, the person he liked had followed him from the ‘crime scene’ right here and maybe Harry was just a concerned friend, but hopefully he was so much more than that.

Shaking her head, she left the room, closing the door behind her and Niall smiled over at Harry when she was gone, “Is your knee okay?” he asked, giving him a soft frown and tipping his head down to look at Harry’s knee.

“What? Oh. My knee. Yeah. It’s fine.” Harry said with a soft laugh, shrugging his shoulder and reaching to rub gently over his knee, “Actually, I had to get used to running into everything at a young age because I’m incredibly clumsy.” He explained with a soft smile, his tongue flicking over his bottom teeth slightly.

Niall smiled at Harry wanting to reach out and touch his knee himself or wanting to tell Harry that he was the Curly that Louis bet him to eat the cinnamon hearts for. Actually, he just wanted to tell Harry anything and instead it just translated as him watching Harry with a wide smile.

“Is it Louis that you like? That’s who you like, right?” Harry asked, not even thinking that that didn’t make sense, seeing as Louis is the one who had made the bet with him.

Niall nearly choked and the unexpected movement in his throat sent him into a coughing fit, the cinnamon burning again, his eyes watering and his cheeks pink as he looked away from Harry, trying to avoid eye contact with him at all.

“Oh my god, are you okay, I am so sorry.” Harry stumbled over his words, quickly making his way over to the small sink and filling one of the bathroom-sized paper cups with water before holding it out to Niall, “Try that. It might help a little.” He said carefully, standing far enough back to make sure he couldn’t hurt Niall from there.

Niall graciously took the cup, sipping at the water until his coughing died down, his left hand reaching to wipe the tears from his eyes. “I’m sorry. I just. No, it’s not Louis. He’s my best mate, but I couldn’t imagine ever dating him. He’s wild.” Niall explained, his voice hoarse and his eyes honing in on Harry.

“I guess I just thought because you guys are so close.” Harry explained, reaching up and pushing his fingers through his hair as he scooted far enough back that he sat down on the nurses chair, looking over at Niall.

“No, Harry.” Niall said, his voice deliberately slow so he could give himself the time to figure out how to word what he was going to say next, “I don’t like him.” He said, biting down on his bottom lip and finally speaking again, “I don’t like him because I like you.”

“You what?” Harry said, twisting his head to look at Niall from where he was studying a poster on the wall about safe sex and it was his turn to choke over his words. “Me? You ate cinnamon hearts to impress me?” His eyes were wide with disbelief and his mouth fell open, looking over at Niall.

“Yes. I mean, Louis sent me one of those dumb secret Valentine things and dared me to eat thirty of them.” Niall explained, his cheeks burning red with embarrassment.

“I sent you one of those dumb secret Valentine things,” Harry said, slightly affronted, his eyes shifting away from Niall, “I didn’t think it was dumb though.” He said and if his features shifted into a pout, it was no ones fault but Niall’s.

“No, I mean, it was just dumb because it was from him. He sent me one to dare me to do something stupid to get your attention. That’s why it was dumb. Except it got your attention so maybe it wasn’t that dumb.” Niall rambled and twisted his hands together in his lap.

Harry stood up from the chair, making his way over to stand in front of Niall, “That’s actually, the cutest thing that anyone has ever done for me.” Harry said softly, shrugging his shoulders and leaning forward, his lips pushing forward just slightly to kiss NIall.

Niall smiled softly until Harry was moving towards him and at just the last moment he turned his head to the left, letting Harry’s lips land on his cheek with a soft smack and he squeezed his hands together even more tightly. “Sorry, I,” Niall started, stopping as Harry interrupted him.

“No, it’s fine I am sorry. I shouldn’t have done that I just think you’re really fit and I didn’t even think you knew I was alive and now you do and I am so sorry.” And Harry was rambling.  He had a way of doing that, whenever he was stressed, nervous or upset.

“Of course I know you’re alive. I’ve fancied you for months, Harry.” Niall said, taking the last sip of water from his small cup of water Harry had given him, “I just don’t want to kiss you with my fire breath right now.” He explained with a quiet laugh.

Harry hiccuped, clapping his hand over his mouth to silence his laugh as he looked at Niall, “Oh my god. I’m fond of a dragon.” He said through his chuckles, his eyes wide and watching Niall who was also laughing, as quietly as possible to keep the pain from getting worse.

“Sounds like things are a bit better in here then,” The nurse said when she reentered the room, opening a small carton of milk and pouring it into a cup before handing it to Niall, a look on her face that said something like ‘I deal with kids like this far too much.’

Niall graciously accepted the milk, sipping it down and just a moment later he finally got the relief he needed, the spicy cinnamon flavour muting to the milk. “Oh, god, that is so much better. Thank you so much.” Niall said, kicking his legs over the edge of the table and glancing from the nurse to Harry.

Harry smiled fondly in Niall’s direction, tucking his hands into the back pockets of his jeans before looking over at the nurse, “Do you think we could just stay in here until school’s over? It’s only like fifteen minutes off and I don’t want to go back to class. Especially because Niall could have another coughing fit.” He explained to her, his eyelash batting a little more than necessary.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” The nurse said easily and Harry’s attempted flirting definitely wasn’t necessary. “I’ve got to check on a few things in the other room, if you need me, come get me.” She said, more to Harry than to Niall, but a moment later she left the room.

“Did you just try to flirt with the nurse?” Niall asked incredulously, laughing when the door was closed behind her.

“It worked, didn’t it? We don’t have to go back to class!” Harry said excitedly, picking up the milk carton the nurse had left behind and refilling Niall’s cup.

“I don’t think she really cared, but if you want to believe you got us out of class, I’ll let you have this one, Harry Styles.” Niall said with a grin, sipping from his milk and watching Harry.

“It was totally my charm, that’s why she let us out. That’s what tricked you into liking me, isn’t it, fire breath?” Harry asked in Niall’s direction, his smile playful.

“Oh get over here,” Niall said, reaching as far forward as he could and grabbing Harry by the arm to pull him closer. “It was something to do with your charm, your smile, and that ridiculous hair of yours.” He explained before closing the space between them and pressing a soft kiss to Harry’s lips.

Harry’s cheeks flushed at Niall’s compliments and this time, he closed his eyes and leaned in to return the kiss, his smile spreading over his features as he pulled back, “Know what tricked me into liking you?”

“Of course I do,” Niall said, stealing another kiss against Harry’s lips before his head tipped to the side to watch the other male.

Harry reached to tangle their fingers together, giving a soft squeeze to Niall’s hand before letting his lips turn up into a smirk as he spoke, “The cinnamon hearts, obviously.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy! xx


End file.
